nIn Loter a, the spellbinding literary debut by Mario Alberto Zambrano, a young girl tells the story of her familys tragic demise using a deck of cards of the eponymous Latin American game of chance. n nWith her older sister Estrella in the ICU and her father in jail, eleven-year-old Luz Castillo has been taken into the custody of the state. Alone in her room, she retreats behind a wall of silence, writing in her journal and shuffling through a deck of loter a cards. Each of the cards colorful images--mermaids, bottles, spiders, death, and stars--sparks a random memory. n nPieced together, these snapshots bring into focus the joy and pain of the young girls life, and the events that led to her present situation. But just as the story becomes clear, a breathtaking twist changes everything. n nBeautiful full-color images of loter a cards are featured throughout this intricate and haunting novel. nIn Loter a, the spellbinding literary debut by Mario Alberto Zambrano, a young girl tells the story of her familys tragic demise using a deck of cards of the eponymous Latin American game of chance. n nWith her older sister Estrella in the ICU and her father in jail, eleven-year-old Luz Castillo has been taken into the custody of the state. Alone in her room, she retreats behind a wall of silence, writing in her journal and shuffling through a deck of loter a cards. Each of the cards colorful images--mermaids, bottles, spiders, death, and stars--sparks a random memory. n nPieced together, these snapshots bring into focus the joy and pain of the young girls life, and the events that led to her present situation. But just as the story becomes clear, a breathtaking twist changes everything. n nBeautiful full-color images of loter a cards are featured throughout this intricate and haunting novel.--Ru Freeman, author of A Disobedient Girl nIn Loter a, the spellbinding literary debut by Mario Alberto Zambrano, a young girl tells the story of her familys tragic demise using a deck of cards of the eponymous Latin American game of chance. n nWith her older sister Estrella in the ICU and her father in jail, eleven-year-old Luz Castillo has been taken into the custody of the state. Alone in her room, she retreats behind a wall of silence, writing in her journal and shuffling through a deck of loter a cards. Each of the cards colorful images--mermaids, bottles, spiders, death, and stars--sparks a random memory. n nPieced toge